Beijing, 2014-01-25 (China Daily) – Air pollution, traffic congestion, high realty prices… one after another, the problems every resident in Beijing faces have come up for discussion at the ongoing annual meeting of the Beijing municipal people’s congress.

Actually, what Beijingers are enduring is typical urban angst, something that has been experienced by people in almost all metropolises as they have expanded. However, when looking at the problems accompanying the rise of China’s megacities attention has largely focused on the consumption of energy and resources and the environmental consequences of their rapid expansion. Yet underlying all these problems is the pressure of their ever-growing populations. Too many people are being drawn to the bigger cities in search of a better life. Beijing’s population has grown continuously from 2004 to the end of 2012, and it is now 21 million, despite the aim to control the population within 18 million by 2020.

Aside from the highly visible problems, the rapid expansion in the population of the big cities has also caused less visible problems. For example, Beijing consumes 3.6 billion cubic meters of water every year, but its supply is only 2.1 billion cu m; the capital’s annual per capita water resources are less than 100 cu m. According to the UN standard, an annual per capita water supply below 500 cu m annually is sufficient to define “absolute water scarcity”.

To address these problems in the long run it is undoubtedly necessary to control the population growth of cities and that means controlling the floating population.

If its population growth isn’t curbed, any measures introduced to address the problems the capital faces will only mitigate them, rather than solve them. Therefore, the city congress has undoubtedly done the right thing by raising the idea of controlling its population growth for the first time in the past 13 years.

How can the city’s population growth be controlled?

The attraction of the capital is partly the gleam of the bright lights, but mainly the job opportunities it offers. From 2004 to the end of 2012, industries in Beijing and the surrounding regions maintained annual double-digit growth.

The accumulation of people in and near a country’s capital is a common phenomenon, but it is particularly noticeable in China. This has its roots in China’s contemporary history, as the political capital was also established as the economic center of the country, which, combined with the intervention of the government in the economy, left many people with no choice but to rush here in search of gold. Many entrepreneurs also chose to open their factories in or near Beijing attracted by potential access to those in power.

Without moving enterprises away from the capital it will be impossible to reduce the city’s population -after all, where there are jobs there will be workers.

The concluding document of the fourth plenary session of the Communist Party of China Beijing Committee, held on Jan 12 and 13, required a list of labor-intensive, resource-consuming industries and polluting enterprises to be drawn up, and these are expected to be moved out of Beijing.

However, the government has more than once promised to move polluting companies away from Beijing, but seldom with any success. This is because industry means GDP, which in turn promises promotion for decision-making officials.

Thus the proposal to free the evaluation of officials from the GDP growth rate is promising, but it will only be effective if it is properly implemented.

The Beijing authorities are also planning to implement a residence certificate system targeted at strengthening registration of the floating population and the overall service management system for its actual population. A number of other measures, such as a crackdown on illegal shared housing and a rise in subway fares, are also on the cards to make the capital less attractive to migrant workers.

However, the fundamental solution is more even development nationwide. This means a fairer distribution of resources, as too many public resources are concentrated in Beijing. A fairer distribution of public resources throughout the country would mean the first-tier cities do not remain the magnets for those seeking jobs, or better healthcare and education.

Peace Through Tourism

How Travel & Tourism Can Help Restore the Balance in the Emerging New World Order

"The travel & tourism buzzword of the 21st century will be the search for balance."

That forecast was made by Imtiaz Muqbil, Executive Editor, Travel Impact Newswire, in the monthly strategic intelligence publication of PATA, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, way back in February 1999. Today, it is proving spot-on as the word "balance" resonates across all industry sectors.

Travel industry conferences seeking a speaker who can offer some unique historical hindsight, unconventional foresight and thought-provoking insight on how to rebuild and restore the balance in Asia Pacific travel & tourism can email Imtiaz Muqbil by clicking here.

There Can Be No Sustainability Without Spirituality

The New World Order will be dominated by a resurgence of spirituality.

Imtiaz Muqbil claims to be the world's only travel journalist to have visited the Holy Spots of all the major world religions -- Lumbhini, Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Nalanda, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Amritsar, Makkah, Madinah, Najaf and Karbala, as well as religious spots such as Angkor Wat, Bagan, Shwedagon Pagoda, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Temple of The Tooth, Somnath Temple, Samarkand, Bukhara and many other great mosques, shrines, temples and cathedrals worldwide.

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Secrets of Thailand's Tourism Success

Why the Amazing Kingdom is notching up record-breaking arrivals, and what challenges it faces next

The Thai tourism industry has become by far the Kingdom's most successful service sector, one of its leading job-creators and foreign exchange-earners. Behind this success lies a fascinating history of great branding campaigns, policy and regulatory changes, budgetary bunfights, strategic thinking and influence of Royal events.

But this success has now bred a new set of management challenges that may be more difficult to overcome.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has been monitoring the pulse of the Thai travel industry full-time since 1981. Industry conferences and management meetings wishing to benefit from a treasure trove of insights and hindsights on one of the world's great tourism success stories can drop an email here: imtiaz@travel-impact-newswire.com.

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The Rise of the Whistle-Blowers

For 15 years (January 1997-July 2012), Imtiaz Muqbil penned a hard-hitting fortnightly column called “Soul-Searching” in the so-called “newspaper you can trust”. In July 2012, the column was gagged, with no explanation.

Over the years, four columns had explicitly forecast the rise of whistle-blowers -- a prediction now coming 100% true. Read the four columns by clicking on the links below.

Too Bad Your Ad Is Not in This Spot

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If your product is not meeting any of the above goals, please advertise elsewhere.

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News Vs Noise

A Unique Course for Travel & Tourism Communicators In The Internet Era

By far the vast majority of media communications in the travel industry is boring, banal and bland. The same way it has been for the last 30 years.

Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil has designed a special communications course to help upgrade both the context and the content of industry media material, and make it more interesting, readable and, most important, relevant.